In the general field of research, scholarly works rely on datasets of information to support a thesis or other premise. The dataset is typically a table of values or measurements, and can be represented in a variety of forms at least as great as the number of topics of research. Moreover, the representation of datasets used to illustrate research results varies widely. By way of illustration and not limitation, datasets can be represented by text, images, audio, video, graphs, tables, databases, symbols, and pictures. The process of identifying and collecting objects to include in a dataset, in and of itself, can be a monumental task, yet the dataset itself has often not had an existence outside of the research done by a particular scholar. Consequently, there is great repetition of work in gathering information to construct or reconstruct datasets. There is also great dispersion in the results and opinions offered by scholars, in part, because the datasets being relied upon for such opinions are not the same and are not all of the same quality.
Microsoft Access and Excel are two popular software programs that support the storage of datasets. These programs can include embedded reports and provide some visualization of the datasets that they contain. However, these programs primarily store datasets rather than providing a mechanism to document such datasets in the first place.
Sophie™ and Adobe® Acrobat® are two known software-based systems that allow certain, limited types of media objects to be embedded into a file, but neither of these systems or any systems known to the inventor allow for a dataset to be included into a document nor do they permit the user to connect the dataset to visualization mechanisms and so explore the dataset that underlies the context of the media being contained. Although Adobe Macromedia Flash, in principle, allows for timelines and other visualization mechanisms, that environment is primarily a programming system and does not allow for embedded datasets or for so-called “drag-n-drop” synchronization.
There is a need in the art for systems that make underlying datasets more accessible to scholars and other persons. In part, a published dataset in and of itself would provide a basis for a new form of scholarship. To be respected by peers and favorably reviewed, a dataset must be thorough. In turn that may require that the dataset combine multiple data objects of varying type, such as the types noted above. The present invention provides a system and tools that are operative to permit scholars, researchers, co-workers, students, and people in general to extend a dataset through commentary and interpretation provided through a system, preferably constructed using software, that synchronizes elements in the dataset and enables visualization of the elements in a well-defined context.